Fox Rides Reality Lineup to Nightly Ratings Win

“American Idol” continues its lackluster season in the ratings, but the veteran singing competition had enough left in the tank to push Fox to a nightly win in the key 18-49 demo Wednesday night, based on Nielsen overnights.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that “Idol” equaled last week’s 2.9 average rating in viewers 18-49. Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance,” meanwhile, rose four-tenths of a ratings point from the night before, scoring a 2.3.

That was enough for a Fox win for the night, even with ABC’s “Modern Family” coming in as the top show of the night — up two-tenths from a week ago to a 3.5.

ABC’s “The Middle” and “Nashville” also rose from last week. “The Middle” was up one-tenth to a 1.9 in 18-49, while “Nashville” ticked up two-tenths to a 1.8. “Family Tools” (1.2 average) and “How to Live With Your Parents” (2.0) matched last week’s numbers.

CBS aired a mix of repeats and fresh programming, with a new episode of “Criminal Minds” equaling last week’s 2.5 average in adults 18-49, while a fresh “CSI” slipped two-tenths to a 2.0.

NBC’s best performer was “Chicago Fire,” which rose one-tenth from last week to a 1.9 in the 18-49 demo. “Law & Order: SVU” lost four-tenths to a 1.5, while “Dateline” equaled its previous Wednesday original’s 1.3.

For prime time as a whole, Fox led the way with a 2.6 average in the 18-49 demo, followed by ABC (2.0 average), CBS (1.9) and NBC (1.6). Fox also won total viewers, averaging 9.3 million to lead CBS (7.9 million), ABC (6.4 million) and NBC (6.3 million).